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A small IT company decided to launch an epic advertizing campaign to increase its branding decided to hold a fishing contest. Participant of all ages and professions are welcome preferably those with robotic background and unafraid of height. Set in the mid 22nd century AD advancement in genes splicing achieved a historic breakthrough and scientists using the latest bio-genetic technology to bring back an adult Mosasaurus. However this particular species is genetically different from the actual specimen from the late Cretaceous period, with a length reaching 30 meters weighting at approximately 18-20 tons it is truly a monster that rules the ocean. And no this isn't an animatronic but a larger than life predator that put dolly the sheep strapped onto the back of a full grown adult whaleshark to shame.

Each participant will be issued an specially designed exoskeleton and a durable fishing rod, they will be flown over the hot spot in the South China Sea where the fishing contest begins.

My question is what is the minimum specs for the robotic exoskeleton and the fishing rod in order to fish out the Mosasaurus? Most importantly how will public reacts to the sudden introduction of a living fossil?

Condition: The rule is quite simple do not harm the Mosasaurus and your team may only elect a member to disguise himself/herself as bait to lure out the target in the open sea but he/she must not cause the target to choke doing so will result in the entire team being disqualified.

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  • $\begingroup$ Are you planning on restricting line strength as normal for fishing competitions? The international big games heavy tackle limits breaking strength to 10-57 kg. For comparison, largest game fish ever captured was 707.61 kg. $\endgroup$
    – Gary Walker
    Jul 24, 2015 at 10:45
  • $\begingroup$ @Gary Walker no need to restrict the line strength at least not with this monster. $\endgroup$
    – user6760
    Jul 24, 2015 at 10:49
  • $\begingroup$ RIP South china Sea food chain $\endgroup$
    – kylieCatt
    Jul 24, 2015 at 12:15
  • $\begingroup$ So a human being is the bait? Do they get an exoskeleton? How do you act as bait? $\endgroup$
    – depperm
    Jul 24, 2015 at 12:19
  • $\begingroup$ @depperm yes they must don the standard issued exoskeleton and once the volunteer is lowered into the water they must wriggle hard to attract the target the suit will also lits up maybe flashing sporadically but the reward is definitely worth it. $\endgroup$
    – user6760
    Jul 24, 2015 at 12:23

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Since this Mosasaur is the size of a whale (and with a considerably nastier disposition), I don't see that fishing in the ordinary sense is even possible, exoskeleton or no.

The length of the line and the breaking strength are two issues already discussed in the comments; you would need to "hook" the monster with multiple lines to distribute the strain and keep control even if one or more lines broke. Lines would have to be made out of something very strong, perhaps a super material like Spectrashield ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), or synthetic Spider silk (which has a tensile strength 17 times greater than steel on a weight for weight basis).

The other issue is "baiting" the hook. The Mosasaur is the top predator of its age, and at the size you are describing, would need to consume a whale in order to supply the energy for its metabolism. A wiggling human on the end of a line would not even qualify as "finger food", and unless the South China sea has already been swept of all the available food by the monster, it would probably ignore such a small offering.

As a practical matter, setting up a giant net to drop on the Mosasaur once it has been lured by a whale or giant school of tuna or something similar may be the only way to go for this scenario. As a BTW, even a "real" Mosasaur would be a pretty extreme catch, and most of the considerations would still exist if only on a smaller scale.

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  • $\begingroup$ I hate to admit but you are right. $\endgroup$
    – user6760
    Jul 25, 2015 at 1:32
  • $\begingroup$ If they can engineer or de-extinct a mososaur, I think carbon nanotube filliment would be available by then, too. UHMW-PE is so twentieth century! $\endgroup$
    – JDługosz
    Jul 25, 2015 at 11:29

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